GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Testimony resumed Wednesday in the murder case against a Gwinnett County woman accused of murdering an 8-year-old girl with autism, Nicole Amari Hall.
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Hall, who went by Amari, was found dead in DeKalb County in 2021. Her mother, Brittany Hall, and her mother’s girlfriend, Celeste Owens, have been charged with murder and child cruelty among other charges.
Jurors in the trial of Owens, which began this week, watched an interrogation video on Tuesday where she expressed frustration with police from the day she and Amari’s mother reported her missing on November 21, 2021.
Owens, now on trial for murder and child abuse, is accused of fatally striking Amari in the head.
“If I did it, I damn sure wouldn’t be in that hotel room. I would be gone on the run,” Owens told detectives during questioning.
Amari’s mother, Brittany Hall, was also brought in for interrogation due to alleged inconsistencies in the couple’s statements before Amari’s body was found. Detectives suspected from the beginning that Amari, who had autism, may have been the victim of foul play.
“I think you know where she is,” an officer told Owens during the interview.
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Police discovered Amari’s body the following day in DeKalb County, leading to charges against both women. Owens is accused of killing Amari, while Brittany Hall faces a separate murder trial for allegedly participating in prolonged abuse while the couple lived in a hotel.
Owens and Hall initially claimed Amari had slipped out of the hotel room and ran away during the night. Owens told detectives she was visiting family that night, but police later revealed her family said they hadn’t seen her in months.
Jurors watched a disturbing video found on Owens’s cell phone that prosecutors say showed Owens and Hall abusing Amari and her two siblings in their hotel room while the children slept on the floor. Owens faces 12 charges of child abuse on top of the murder charge.
Owens defended herself during the interrogation, saying, “That’s why when we come for help [from the police], we don’t get help. That’s why a lot of people do things and don’t call the cops and handle it their own way.”
Investigators said one of Amari’s siblings told them Owens had taken Amari to what she called “the bad girl hospital” on the night of her death. Owens admitted she used the phrase to discipline Amari, telling her she would go to a behavioral health facility if she didn’t behave.
“That helped her calm down,” Owens said.
Testimony is expected to continue Thursday.
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